Prosecutor: Allentown father and son ran Manhattan sex ring for years

For $200-$500 a night, women were delivered to New York johns, authorities say.

April 23, 2012|By Frank Warner, Of The Morning Call

An Allentown man and his father for years ran a Manhattan sex trafficking operation, delivering women from Allentown and Queens for prostitution, the Manhattan district attorney's office said Monday.

Vincent George Jr., 33, and Vincent George Sr., 56, psychologically abused the women they sold for sex, and they branded the women with tattoos of their street names, District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said.

One woman was tattooed with a bar code, authorities said.

"This was not your typical father-and-son business," New York police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said. "Vincent George Sr. and Vincent George Jr. exploited women, transporting them from Pennsylvania to johns in Midtown Manhattan."

As part of the investigation, New York police seized three houses in Allentown, 10 vehicles and more than $200,000 in bank accounts. Authorities are seeking the Georges' forfeiture of the assets.

The district attorney's office said the younger George's current address is in Allentown and his father's is in Queens. Both men have had several addresses in both cities.

In Allentown, they lived on East Texas Boulevard and N. New Street.

The father and son were arrested April 4 on Interstate 81 north of Scranton, as they tried to deliver a woman from upstate New York to Allentown, authorities said. The Georges' van was stopped by both New York and Pennsylvania state police.

In the Georges' sex trafficking operation, the women were directed to solicit clients at upscale hotel bars and outside strip clubs by passing out business cards for the services of "professional masseuses," prosecutors said.

Customers allegedly were charged $200 to $500 for sex in hotels, apartments or the back seats of cars. The women were required to turn over all payments to the Georges, who then gave the women a few dollars a night for food and other necessities, authorities said.

The women were berated and sometimes threatened with physical violence if they didn't bring in enough money, authorities said.

Prosecutors are treating the women involved as victims. In the news release announcing the charges Monday, the Manhattan district attorney did not refer to the women as prostitutes.

"These victims are often emotionally and economically dependent upon their abusers, and remain silent as their worlds grow smaller and more dangerous," Vance said. "We have been able to pierce this silence and seek to hold accountable those who facilitate the success of this criminal operation."

Vance said indictments have been filed against the Georges and six cab drivers who worked for them.

The father and son were charged with sex trafficking, money laundering and promoting prostitution. The drivers were charged with promoting prostitution.

Grip Entertainment, a corporation set up by the Georges, also was charged with promoting prostitution and money laundering.